Spotlight On: Jessica Dauphin, President & CEO, Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee

October 2025 — Jessica Dauphin, president and CEO of Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee, sat down with Invest: to discuss how the Alliance is working to push transit initiatives forward, its strategy for advocating for regional transit solutions, and how investing in transit will benefit both the community and economy for generations to come.

What recent developments or changes have most impacted the Alliance’s priorities and strategy for advocating for regional transit solutions?

The passage of Choose How You Move in November 2024 was a dream come true for us. We’ve been working alongside many partners, including Mayor Freddie O’Connell, toward that goal for 15 years, so finally meeting our mission in such a significant way has been huge. Many nonprofits go decades without achieving that kind of milestone. It has galvanized our work and, in the best way possible, pushed us to broaden our efforts. We’re making ripples and moving the conversation forward for the region. Regional growth is happening fast, with Middle Tennessee set to welcome another million residents over the next 20 years, but our roads are already at capacity. A survey by Williamson Inc. found that one in three people leave their county for work every day, and a state report shows inter-county travel is at an average of 70% — not even counting pass-through traffic. This reinforces the need for regionalism as a best practice.

What are the region’s biggest mobility challenges right now, particularly related to growth, and what opportunities do you see for closing those gaps?

My main focus now is figuring out how we get more collaborative across the region, and fast. The window for effective change is closing. It took the city 15 years to secure dedicated funding, meanwhile the rest of the region doesn’t have that kind of time. High-priority projects from TDOT could make an impact, like the dedicated lanes, and there are good RFPs coming in from collaborative partners, but beyond that, there’s not much on the horizon. The Star commuter rail went through a study to improve service, but implementation could be expensive.

People understand that transit improvements cost money, so the big question is where to allocate limited resources for the greatest impact. Personally, I look at benchmarking our region’s airport access as my next big goal. If we can improve connections to the airport from Clarksville, Franklin and across the region, we’ll boost mobility overall for residents and visitors alike. We cover 10 counties, and keeping up with each one is a tall order for a small organization like ours. We simply don’t have the bandwidth yet, so normalizing this conversation for a shared objective across the region is critical.

How are you seeing public and private stakeholders come together in new ways to push transit forward?

The TDOT choice lanes are an example of a public-private partnership to build extra lanes, with transit vehicles able to use them for free — a triple win. The WeGo Donelson Station is another regional public-private partnership that serves buses and rail. Nashville’s intentional transit-oriented development (TOD) will be a game changer for the city and the region. I don’t think we can fully grasp its impact yet — services from the Donelson TOD hub to the airport will become more frequent, improving connectivity. It’s similar to what we saw with the Dr. Ernest Rip Patton, Jr. North Nashville Transit Center where one transit development dramatically increased access to jobs, education and training and even won the Transit Development of the Year award last year at our Breakfast for Better Mobility event. 

If we succeed with the regional airport project, that will be another key public-private partnership. We’re seeking funding to conduct that study and share the findings. 

Housing plays a part as well. After Choose How You Move passed, the conversation turned to leveraging public and private funds to create affordable and workforce housing units. Collaboration is truly part of Nashville’s culture. I see it across city departments and the region. It’s our superpower, and the only way we will see success in addressing pressing challenges.

How does the Alliance work with local communities to better understand the connection between dedicated transit funding, better services, rideshare growth and beyond?

I always start by asking communities what they see and what challenges they face, then I go back to identify what changes and infrastructure are needed. This must be an ongoing conversation — a one-and-done approach will never work. Listening is a big part of what I do. The Transit Alliance plays the role of active listener. That strategy worked well in one county in 2023-2024, and now we’re bringing it to others to keep the dialogue going.

Looking ahead, what are your top priorities for the Alliance in the next few years?

My top priority is to contextualize our work in a regional strategy with shared goals to improve transit. We need more resources, a solid report to back our plans for regional airport access, and more bandwidth within the organization to keep pushing. Hiring more staff will help us keep our foot on the gas. If we do nothing, the region will keep paying the price — we already lose $1.2 billion annually sitting in traffic. We need to invest differently and push this conversation forward. Infrastructure and public services outlive elected officials and individuals because these are generational investments. For a region like ours, connected by geography and economy, it only makes sense that we should be connected through mobility as well. It’s like the interstate system, built 70 years ago and still shaping lives today. We have to solve today’s needs and think 30-50 years ahead. It weighs heavily on my mind because mobility affects access to healthcare, education, sustainability and economic resilience.

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